Rr vol 1 issue 20 october 6 2014

Life is a journey, not a destination.

RR

RONNIE’S RAMBLINGS

vol. 01 Issue 20 10.06.2014

PUBLISHED BY SPORTS & MORE

established Viii-Xiv-mmxiv

Cover photo : Avon High School is the 2014 boys Tennis Sectional #No. 2 Champion.

WHAT TO EXPECT

In this issue...

Say What?!

four

Ronnie’s Ramblings

six eight Eightteen tennis

Football

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We are not primarily put on this earth to see through each other, but to see each other through.

-Unk-

follow us on twitter! @Ronniesrambling

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RONNIE’S RAMBLINGS vol. 01 Issue. 20 10.06.2014

To purchase/view photos go to hcsportsandmore.smugmug.com

Masthead RONNIE WILSON -

FOUNDER PUBLISHER EDITOR WRITER PHOTOGRAPHER

NOELANI LANGILLE

&

- CREATIVE DIRECTOR - ART DIRECTOR - DESIGNER - PHOTO EDITOR - PHOTOGRAPHER column photo, pages 4 & 7

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SAY WHAT?

October edition

With the midterm elections rapidly approaching I thought it would be a good time for a civics lesson. Below are a few myths concerning the United States. Constitution.

To be clear, these myths are not about interpretations of the Constitution; they center on people and events related to the founding document.

Myth one: The Constitution was written on hemp paper The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were written on parchment. The point of debate is that some working drafts of the documents might have been composed on paper made from hemp, which was widely used in that time period.

Myth two: Thomas Jefferson signed the Constitution Thomas Jefferson didn’t sign the Constitution. This is the most-popular myth at the National Constitution Center, especially when guests enter our hall of statutes of the Constitution’s signers – and ask where the Jefferson statue is. In 1787, Jefferson was in Paris as the United States’ envoy, and he missed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Myth three: John Adams also signed the Constitution Like Jefferson, Adams was in service

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for his country overseas when the Constitution was signed. He was in London as the United States minister to Great Britain.

Myth four: The same Founders who wrote the Declaration wrote the Constitution Only six Founders signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution: George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, James Wilson and Roger Sherman.

Myth five: The Constitution was signed by 39 people It is true that 39 delegates signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787, but the convention’s secretary, William Jackson, also signed the document.

Jackson was picked over Benjamin Franklin’s grandson as the convention secretary.

Myth six: The Constitution says “All Men Are Created Equal” That is in the Declaration of Independence.

The original Constitution avoided the issue of slavery, counting each slave as three-fifths of a person to determine representation in Congress. The 13th and 14th Amendments ratified after the Civil War made the “Three-Fifths Compromise” obsolete.

Myth seven: The Constitution established a democracy in the U.S.

The Constitution actually established a republic, as stated in Article IV, Section 4. After the 1787 convention, someone asked Benjamin Franklin what kind of government the new document endorsed: a monarchy or a republic. “A Republic, if you can keep it,” Franklin responded.

A democracy, in general terms, was seen as government by the majority of the people. A republic, also in general terms, added safeguards like checks and balances that ensure that a representative government guaranteed individual rights. Over the years, the use of the words became somewhat interchangeable, and their true meanings are still debated.

Myth eight: An enthusiastic country quickly embraced the Constitution After the delegates signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787, five states quickly signed it. But then the ratification process slowed down as the anti-Federalists, who feared a strong central government and demanded a Bill of Rights, bitterly fought the Constitution’s ratification at state conventions. It took until June 21, 1788 for New Hampshire, as the ninth state approving ratification, to make the Constitution a reality.

Myth nine: The convention delegates were unanimous in approving the

document When the Constitutional Convention ended in 1787, 42 delegates gathered at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) for the signing ceremony. Among that group, 38 delegates signed the document, with George Read also signing for John Dickinson,

who was ill. Three Founders, Elbridge Gerry, George Mason and Edmund Randolph, refused to sign the Constitution, unhappy with the final document for various reasons.

Myth ten: All 13 states took part in writing the Constitution There were 13 states in 1787, but Rhode Island didn’t send a

delegation to Philadelphia. In fact, Rhode Island feared it would be dominated by the LANGILLE new federal PHOTO

BY NOELANI government and thus rejected ratification of the Constitution in 1788. It finally approved the Constitution on May 29, 1790, by a margin of two votes.

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RR

No more laws - Think about it by ronnie wilson

RONNIE’S RAMBLINGS

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Have been listening to some political pundits, of late. Using their logic, there is no need to improve, clarify or fine-tune exiting laws concerning violent crime. According to them, current and/or better laws are only followed by law-abiding citizens, the criminals ignore laws, thus enacting more laws is unnecessary because the criminals will not pay any heed to them.

To extend that logic, substance abuse laws should be repealed. Only drug users use drugs (by definition) and they do not care about such regulations. If they did, the substance abuse explosion would not exist.

By the way, how is that war on drugs going? I have read 10s of billions of dollars have been spent on that war and the problem has only doubled or tripled since it inception.)

Do not mistake me for some pie-inthe-sky liberal. I am the most ardent supporter of significantly reducing the drug problem in this country. I just think the current methods are at best be described as ineffective.

I wanted to write “...eliminating the drug problem..., but that would be pie-in-the-sky.

(BTW - I am not sure whether I am a conservative-liberal, a liberal-conservative or a liberally-conservative libertarian.)

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OK, last week I promised a perspective on why America is not the greatest country, here it is.

In the pilot of The Newsroom, a new series for HBO, TV news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) emotionally checked out years ago, and now he’s sitting on a college panel, hearing the same shouting match between right and left he’s been hearing forever, and the arguments have become noise. A student asks what makes America the world’s greatest country, and Will dodges the question with glib answers. But the moderator keeps needling him until...snap.

Will It’s not the greatest country in the world, professor, that’s my answer.

Moderator [pause] You’re saying— Will Yes. Moderator Let’s talk about— Start off easy. First get rid of the two noisemakers.

Will Fine. [to the liberal panelist] Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paychecks, but he [gesturing to the conservative panelist] gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It

doesn’t cost money, it costs votes.

It costs airtime and column inches.

You know why people don’t like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so *#&!in’ smart, how come they lose so *&#DAM ALWAYS! (The use of inappropriate language had a purpose in the show—the filter was off, but I turned it on.) RLW. And [to the conservative panelist] with a straight face, you’re going to tell students that America’s so star-spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.

(ED. - The fact-dump that’s coming now serves several purposes. It backs up his argument, it reveals him to be exceptional (what normal person has these stats at their fingertips?), but mostly it’s musical. This is the allegro.)

And you—sorority girl—yeah—just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest

country in the world.

We’re seventh in literacy, twentyseventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in PHOTO exports.BYWeNOELANI lead theLANGILLE world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twentyfive of whom are allies. None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-periodEVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the f?!* you’re talking about?! Yosemite?!!!

[Cell-phone cameras are everywhere— people are tweeting and texting away.]

(Ed. - Now we slow down and get a glimpse into his pain. The oratorical technique is called “floating opposites”— we did, we didn’t, we did, we didn’t... But rhythmically you don’t want this to be too on the money. You’re not just testing the human ear anymore; you want people to hear what he’s saying.)

We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn’t belittle it;

it didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn’t scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one—America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

(Ed. - To resolve a melody, you have to end on either the tonic or the dominant. Try humming “Mary Had a Little Lamb” right now, but leave off “snow.” You’ll feel like you need to sneeze. So Will ends where he started. Then, just to acknowledge that he just sang an aria— which is unusual in the course of a normal conversation—he turns to the moderator who’d been needling him and casually asks...)

Will [to moderator] Enough?

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Tennis

Photos by Ronnie Wilson

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Avon’s Ryan Lingle in sectional championship action against Danville’s Zachary Saito.

Avon’s Drew Langford in sectional championship action against Danville’s Corey Clark.

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Danville’s Zachary Saito in sectional championship action against Avon’s Ryan Lingle.

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Danville’s Corey Clark in sectional championship action against Avon’as Drew Langford.

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Danville’s Gavin Hensley in sectional championship action against Avon’s Evan Zolcak.

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Avon’s Evan Zolcak in sectional championship action against Danville’s Gavin Hensley.

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Avon’s #1 doubles tandem of Nate Toney and Alex Collins in sectional championship actio

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on against Danville’s David Woodward and Jonathan Binkley.

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Danville’s #1 doubles squad of David Woodward and Jonathan Binklley in

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sectional championship action against Avon’s Nate Toney and Alex Collins.

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Football

Photos by onnie Wilson

Tri-West’s Wesley Cook breaks a tackle and looks for running room versus Western Boone.

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Tri-West’s Drake Stahl stops the Western Boone ball carrier.

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Danville Community High School Homecoming queen and king candidates: front (l - r) - Ali Barker, Sara Barnett, Cheyenne Fenters. Back (l - r) - Jonathan Curtis, Nick Hamilton, Chase Kenard.

Barker and Hamilton were crowned Homecoming Queen and King.

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The Tri-West football team storms the field to begin their homecoming game versus Western Boone.

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Life is a journey, not a destination.

follow us on twitter! @Ronniesrambling

RR PUBLISHED BY SPORTS & MORE

RONNIE’S RAMBLINGS vol. 01 Issue. 20 10-06-2014

To purchase/view photos go to hcsportsandmore.smugmug.com

established Viii-Xiv-mmxiv